Casewise Blog ? Navigating the ?Nexus of Change?

Matt Senatore, VP Global Marketing,?Casewise

Gartner?s Nigel Raynor took to the stage at Gartner EA Summit in London last week outlining his views on what the leading analyst firm describes as the ?four forces? which will significantly impact Enterprise Architecture (EA) in the next 40 years.

The four forces, as he describes as the ?Nexus of Change? are:

??Social

??Mobile

??Cloud

??Information

These four forces are the catalysts for significant, fast paced change for Enterprise Architects moving forward.? The underlying theme from the presentation was to take a sensible look from a future user perspective, address some of the challenges enterprises currently face and look at the concept of ?pace layers? in order to prepare for and deliver against this new demand.

Social and mobile

The rapid adoption of consumer-technologies such as smart phones, mobile devices, iPads and tablets, means that a new employee joining an organization in the future will expect social media capabilities and ease-of-use from all technologies they interact with.

Future employees will reasonably expect their employers to supply them with a computing device (either a desktop PC, laptop or a smart phone), but they will also expect to be able to bring their own device into work. In essence, what works for them outside of work should be available inside. Therefore systems will have to work across a number of operating devices, which increasingly means that it will be harder to have standard operational protocols moving forward.

As with social media, future employees will expect to be able to access platforms across multiple devices, for different stages of the working day. Perhaps starting off traveling to work and accessing systems via a mobile phone, then switching to a desk machine in the office, and later, when out at clients, using some form of tablet device.

In addition, ease of set up ? without the need to liaise with IT or manuals to sync with organizations systems ? is going to become the norm. Future employees will expect the ease-of-use that is delivered when interacting with Facebook or Amazon, for example.

Raynor predicts these new users will download apps from an enterprise app store and suggested that the ability to ?rate? the apps should ensure future improvements.

In terms of application development, instead of the traditional PC originated applications with a ?shrink to fit? approach to mobile devices, it was suggested that architects need to focus on mobile device application delivery first and then work out from there.

Raynor even foresees a collaborative approach for application development ? combining input from all stakeholders (the end users, the development and support teams) ? rather than the ?command and control? methodology often used today.? Perhaps this is the best way forward to ensure that IT is truly delivering on the needs of the business?

The cloud

We all know you can no longer think of the walls of your enterprise as the end of the need for application usage.? For some time, organizations have been reaching out beyond these in response to end user demands.

The cloud already targets specific business areas (e.g., CRM, project management) that deliver attractive solutions, on a fee basis. Raynor predicts the cloud will further extend and augment current systems so that a more hybrid environment evolves, which will be more fluid to keep pace with the shifting landscape.

Therefore more lightweight governance will need to be offered in enterprise architecture.

Information

The current buzzword of ?big data? may be a great marketing term but it?s difficult to define what it actually is. However, Raynor predicts, what it will actually do is a bit clearer.

With the mass of information that will become available, organizations will rapidly move away from real-time analytics to predictive and prescriptive analytics. Essentially moving away from reviewing what has happened, to make decisions based on being able to predict what will happen and therefore, be able to act accordingly.

And how do we implement this ?Nexus of Change??

Raynor went on to identify three levels which he called ?Pace Layers? as a strategy to follow when looking to implement this change and used building architecture as an analogy:

• Systems of Record The first layer, likened by Raynor to the foundations of a building, addresses established package applications or legacy homegrown systems that support core transaction processing and manage the organisation?s critical master data ? which won?t need to be changed on a regular basis.

• System of Differentiation Raynor compared this second layer to the walls of a building that can be changed, but not often or without causing significant disruption. These are the applications that are unique and make an organization different. They need to be frequently adapted every one to three years in order to support the evolving business and adapt to customer requirements.

• System of Innovation This top level, addresses the ad hoc applications to handle new business requirements or opportunities. Raynor paralleled this with the interior design of a building, frequently changing requirements to follow latest trends or customer demands. These are typically short life cycle projects of up to 12 months using departmental or external resources and consumer-grade technologies. In the future, these innovative areas could possibly be given a much lighter touch in governance to allow them the agility they?ll demand.

The sanity check

This vision may well be Nirvana but it needs sanity checking says Raynor. Typically an enterprise is built up from an IT perspective with legacy systems, previous tactical purchases and any effects that mergers and acquisitions have had. Overlay this with the current economic picture and the obvious squeeze on all budgets, including that of IT means that a sensible approach to the Nexus of Change will be required.

To illustrate that point, for example:? though it may be very nice that the Accounts department can access their systems through multiple devices ? is it actual business critical? Is there a business case for doing so?

In summary, Raynor conveyed the following main points about the future:

??Enterprise Architects are about to experience fast-paced change

??Strategies need to be built from an end user perspective

??Being realistic in delivery and incorporating pace layers will aid in achieving this

This begs the question, how is your organization planning (and set up) to navigate the ?Nexus of Change??

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Big racing fun comes in small-car packages

Photo courtesy Homestead Speedway

Reporter Dan Carney takes this Mazda2 for a ride. He says that the car's performance on the racetrack was "genuinely exciting."

By Dan Carney, msnbc.com contributor

Remember Herbie, the Love Bug?? It (he?) was an old Volkswagen Beetle, which everyone knew back its day was as slow as a rebate check.? But he could miraculously outrace Jaguars, Porsches and Ferraris.

?To get a feel for economy car fender-banging, I was dispatched to participate first-hand in the new Grand-Am Sportsman Showcase series and report back.? It might sound preposterous to contemplate racing a Ford Fiesta, Fiat 500, Honda Fit, Kia Rio, Mazda2 or Mini Cooper around a big racetrack like Homestead Speedway near Miami, but that?s just what we did.? Do you know what?? It was just like real racing!

The question is: Will consumers be impressed?? ?We cannot draw a direct line from motorsports to sales,? conceded Mike Ofiara, supervisor for motorsports communication for Kia Motor America.? ?But we like to think that the old phrase, ?Win on Sunday, Sell on Monday? still persists.?

Whether that is or ever has been true has long been a topic of debate, and the answer seems to be, ?It depends.?? The answer is particularly pertinent with regard to the emerging class of subcompact cars in the U.S. and the youthful buyers they are targeting.? That?s because people tend to associate affordability and fuel economy with little hatchbacks, while racing is normally the domain of the powerful and prestigious.

And what about the buyers?? Do gadget-addled 20-somethings pay attention to racing, beyond their latest round of Mario Kart?? If they do, will it influence their purchase decisions?

The idea is that by joining together to tout their minicars as fun, and even as potential racers, carmakers can shift consumers? perceptions of the subcompact category as a whole, explained Mickey Matus, marketing communications manager for Ford Racing.

?It is important that the cars do take on a driving dynamic message,? he said.? ?It does everybody good if the [subcompact segment] does that.?? And that message is better carried en masse, Matus continued.? ?If you?ve got four-five cars promoting the attributes, it is better than one guy out there trying to wave the flag.?

Can carmakers make a category cool just through marketing? After all, that?s what SUV haters have charged happened with those vehicles.? Probably not as much as critics charge, or carmakers would like, but marketing must sell some cars or they wouldn?t do it.

It's a tall order, because we are talking about little hatchbacks here, mostly the five-door variety, though the Mini and Fiat are only available as three-door models.? These are the cars that get no respect.? But they can be a lot of fun to drive, with responsive handling and surprisingly zippy engines.

But zippy enough to not feel like absurd jokes on a real race-track? ?Yes, they really are zippy enough to race for real.? Each car has a package of racing-grade springs and shocks absorbers, plus a few other features depending on the car, and they have real, racing-grade roll cages and other safety equipment.? Along with the Continental racing slicks, these parts transform these flimsy flivvers into flyweight contenders as surely as six months of training and a pair of Everlast boxing gloves can transform the school runt into a winning fighter.

The key in both cases is to only fight within your weight class, so the hatchbacks only race amongst themselves.? I only raced the Mazda2, but I can say that the car?s performance in the race was genuinely exciting.? That impression was intensified by the heavy rain that fell during the season-opening event at Homestead, during which time the Mazda2 was impressively sure-footed on its Continental rain tires.

Though I didn?t drive the other cars in racing trim, I can confirm that efforts to equalize the cars? performance for truly equal racing seem to have worked, as no car appeared to hold an advantage either in cornering or in acceleration.

That means for a total bill of about twice the typical $13,000 purchase price of a new example of one of these cars, you, I, or anybody else could have our own fully prepped race-car and compete with it in legitimate professional events hosted by NASCAR?s road-racing division, called Grand-Am, or by the Sports Car Club of America?s World Challenge pro series.

I slogged through the rain in the middle of the pack to finish fourth ^{of the eight cars in the inauguaral Grand-Am race, but couldn?t wipe the smile off my face for hours afterward despite the relentless tropical south Florida spring deluge.}

Maybe enough fun that some potential minicar buyers will want to come out and wave the flag for their own car.? ?Not everybody can afford a Mustang GT,? noted Matus.? ?It is nice to have something the young person can buy and take pride in for a win at the track.?

Mazda motorsports director John Doonan spearheaded the development of the racing series and recruited the other companies to compete.? ?My division?s mission is, ?Lets identify the next generation of customer,?? he explained.? ?Not only the Mazda customers at the dealership, but also the next generation racing customer.?

But does Generation Playstation really care about racing?? They have been playing a lot of racing simulations on their game consoles, Doonan pointed out.?? ?There are kids who could get off the couch, who?ve been playing a video game and for pretty reasonable be able to buy this kit and go racing for about $25,000.?

Sure, that?s more expensive than Herbie the Love Bug cost back in the 1968, but today we have a lot more mandatory safety equipment.? Here?s some unfortunate irony for you: Volkswagen, a brand that was once synonymous with small cars in the U.S. can?t participate in this series because it doesn?t sell any cars here that are small enough.

But maybe if the expected 40-car fields materialize later this season and that helps take some of the stigma off subcompact hatchbacks among mainstream American car buyers, then maybe VW will import one of its smaller models and join in the fun.

Meanwhile, Millennials, drop your game controllers and come out with your wallets open!? Carmakers have something to show you.

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Updates On Clear-Cut Solutions Of Personal Taxes Finance Help ...

If you are an internet marketer, do not let people tell you that you will not have to pay taxes. The Internal Revenue Service considers them to be freelancers and they still have to pay taxes. This means that there is income that you must submit to the IRS so that it can be taxed. This is not good news. However, do not let your tax responsibility get the best of you. This article will provide a few tips to internet marketers who want to get a handle on their taxes.

Hold on to your payment receipts. Did you buy a cup of coffee for a client during a meeting? Did you purchase writing pens for your new desk? Did you have to update your old computer software? All of these expenses are deductible, but you will need your receipts to do so. This is why it is important that you maintain records for all purchased items. Write down why you made the purchase and then store the receipt in a secured spot. You will have problems with the IRS if your receipt totals are not the same as the totals on your income taxes. So hold on to all receipts. This will probably seem very cumbersome to do, but it will be very beneficial in the end.

Remember that the IRS is available if you have problems. When you contact the IRS with questions, you will be directed to a person that is employed for this exact reason. They would much rather you call and ask about the things that confuse you than have you try to figure it out on your own and wind up getting audited. When you call the IRS you can ask a qualified professional your questions and, more often than not, they will send you all sorts of materials that will help you make sure that you are taking care of your tax responsibilities. Pop to stores.trendytreasuresonline.com/StoreFront.bok for clear details.

If you are considering filing your own taxes, you would be well advised to begin the process as early as possible. When you file your taxes as an Internet Marketer, the IRS will consider you a freelancer; unfortunately you will be up against some stringent tax laws and you will be unable to use the old 1040EZ form you did when you had an employer. This will entail a variety of intricate elements consisting of forms with detailed schedules and rules you will need to adhere to. The more organized and prepared you are when you begin your tax preparation; the likelier you will be satisfied with the outcome. An internet marketer has to track a lot of different things. Keeping up with taxes is one of these components. The trick is to track your expenditures correctly so that you will not have problems in the end. Keep in mind that there are pros available to give you help.

Go to this website for well-rounded suggestions ? Why not check here or plumbing companies okotoks.

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Marketing your business with Pinterest

Pinterest for some people, is a place where women to share product images of things that they like, but its meteoric rise as a social network makes it a great place for businesses too. Women are tremendous influencers, especially over the men in their life ? when do men buy any major purchase without discussing it with the women in their life?

Think of Pinterest as a place to share ideas in a visual way with your ideal customers and those that influence your ideal customers. Pinterest is not the first site for organising images, WeHeartIt and PinSpire are also image based social sharing sites, along with Gentlemint.

Being creative ?with Pinterest is a different thing when compared to just pinning images that we love, we need to factor in how you and your business can profit from that.

Users on Pinterest love to share and repin images from a whole range of categories, especially food. Did you know the most pinned image is one of garlic bread? ?The advice might be don?t tweet what you eat when it comes to using Twitter, but what you and your team had for lunch shows you in a whole new light on Pinterest!

As with any social network you just need to find a balance between self-promotion, social networking, and making money? too much in one direction and the community will lose interest in you, too little and you?ll lose interest in it.

Here are a few creative ways you can use Pinterest to market your business.

Promote Your Blog

If you have an image on your blog, it?s pinnable. For that reason alone, you should always add an image on each of your blog posts along with a ?Pin it? button under each. At the very least have the pinning button in your sharing options. ?Readers are drawn to images and an interesting image encourages them to go on and read your article. More information on ?what images you should use for Pinterest images and attribution can be found in this post.

When you or a reader pins your image to Pinterest, it creates a direct link back to your blog. This not only adds to your link-building efforts, it can bring a whole new type of traffic to your site. My infographic on content creation was repinned over 100 times. That?s a lot of links.

Create themed boards on Pinterest that are based on the categories on your website, and make sure that you always pin your own blog post images to those boards. This helps your SEO and enables people to have an idea of what to expect when they look at those boards.

Involve Your Customers

Having Pinterest boards is a new way to engage your customers online. Not only can they pin their favorite images to your boards, but they can comment on them and share them with their friends and followers. When people enjoy interacting with your website, they?ll come back more often. This not only builds your relationship with website visitors, but it gives you far greater opportunities to showcase your products and services in a friendly and engaging manner. Nobody likes being sold to, so don?t be heavy handed in your tactics.

Inspire Your Customers

Often people only see your products in one way and for one purpose. Pinterest boards give you the chance to inspire different ways to use your products through visuals. For example, if you sell flowers, you can show pictures of them in the table settings of customers? weddings, in the church, in cars ? anywhere in the home. You can also showcase accessories that come with flowers such as vases, and have a board that shows how to care for flowers with tips and techniques that help the customer. ?That?s far more inspiring than a simple product image on your website.

Show That You?re a Real Person

It?s always difficult to make a personal connection with people online vs. face-to-face. By including both business boards and personal boards in your Pinterest account, prospects and customers get to see some of your own interests ? the human connection. They start to see the real person behind the business persona. Even if you are representing a large company, remember that customers are eager to know the real people behind the corporate face. If you?re a small business or entrepreneur, this is even more crucial.

Add Affiliate Links

You may not realise it, but you can also insert your own affiliate links on your pins. It?s a whole new way to affiliate market.

You can create boards that are just product related and earn cash when people click those links and buy something. Just go into the ?edit? button for a specific pin and replace the direct link to the product with your affiliate link and add the price in dollars so that people know they can buy the item.

How would you use this option in your offline business? Ok, let?s explore this aspect further? you have a board and fill that board with books that are essential reads for anyone starting up in your industry, or books that are essential for your customers to make the most of their product. These boards are?incredibly?useful to your ideal customer, it shows you care about their experience with your goods. You earn some money which you can give to charity or buy more business books and it?s win/win. If we think back to the florist example I used further up, as well as linking to blog posts about flower care and longevity, books and tools can be found on Amazon to make a complete floral care experience.

Pinterest isn?t going anywhere any time soon, despite copyright rumblings and it is incredibly active. Make the most of it as a place to engage your customers and prospects. At the same time, it presents a new opportunity to earn money online from a completely different source.

Sarah

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Sued for texting a driver? Experts say 'maybe'

By Bob Sullivan

Could you be blamed for a car crash because you sent a text message??

A New Jersey judge will decide later this week if the sender of a text message might be?partially liable for a horrific auto accident that occurred because the driver was reading that message on his cell phone and drifted into oncoming traffic.

With nearly half a million U.S. drivers injured in distracted driving-related accidents?every year, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the judge?s decision could have wide-ranging impact in both the legal and digital realms.

While it might seem absurd to blame someone who isn't even in the car -- or anywhere near it -- for causing an accident, some legal experts say the plaintiff is on firmer ground than you might think.

---

Skippy Weinstein, a Morristown-based lawyer, is using similar logic to press the case he filed on behalf of David and Linda Kuber. Both Kubers lost their legs during a 2009 crash in Mine Hill, N.J., after 19-year-old Kyle Best sideswiped their car when driving while texting. Weinstein said Shannon Colonna, who was texting with Best, should also be held responsible for the Kubers? injuries.

"She was not physically in the vehicle but she was electronically present," Weinstein told msnbc.com. "She and he were assisting each other in a violation of the law."

That word "assisting" is at the crux of Weinstein's novel legal argument.?

Most readers will be familiar with the notion of "aiding and abetting" a criminal act and the guilt it brings: the man who knowingly holds the door for the gang is just likely to be convicted of bank robbery as the safe cracker.

More recently, this notion of aiding and abetting has been extended to civil liability cases, too, creating a basis for what's sometimes called "secondary" or "vicarious" liability. For the past two decades, most civil aiding and abetting cases have been limited to investment and securities fraud: An aggrieved investor might not only sue Bernie Madoff for stealing his money, for example, but also go after a third-party broker who repeatedly executed trades for Madoff. Even if the trader wasn't profiting from the scheme or part of a "joint enterprise,? a court might find the trader provided assistance to Madoff, and should have known that someone was likely be injured by his actions.

The aiding and abetting argument in injuries that give rise to lawsuits, known as "torts," is only beginning to find its way into other kinds of civil cases.

There's a simple three-pronged test to prove someone is partly to blame for causing an injury by aiding and abetting someone else. It is set out in the Restatement of Torts published by the American Law Institute, which guides most civil courtrooms:

1) The party the defendant assists must do a wrongful act;

2) The party must be generally aware of his or her role in the illegal or "tortuous" act;

3) The party must "substantially assist" in the principal violation.

Weinstein think his argument is easy to make.?The driver violated the law by texting while driving.?Colonna, the text sender, should have known that Best was driving home from work and had to know texting while driving was a violation, he said. Therefore, it's hard to argue that a text sender isn't substantially assisting in the creation of a text message conversation that violates New Jersey's driving laws.

"That very comfortably satisfies the third prong of the legal test," he said.

Colonna?s lawyer, Joseph McGlone, doesn't think the argument has any merit, and has asked Morris County Superior Court Judge David Rand to dismiss the case.?Rand is scheduled to rule this week on McGlone?s motion to dismiss the case.

The sender of a text message has no way to control or predict when the recipient will read it, McGlone argues.

"The sender of the text has the right to assume the recipient will read it at a safe time,? McGlone told the local Daily Record ?newspaper. ?It?s not fair. It?s not reasonable. Shannon Colonna has no way to control when Kyle Best is going to read that message."

He added that there is no precedent for heaping liability on a person on the other side of a text message conversation that causes?injury.

Of course, there's no precedent for a lot of legal areas in the Digital Age. In situations like this, judges usually turn to analogies. In driving injury cases, the judge has a bushel full to choose from.

For starters, it's hard to tag liability on anyone who isn't holding the steering wheel of the car while an accident occurs. Lawyers around the nation have repeatedly tried and failed to make passengers partly responsible for accidents caused by drunken drivers when passengers knowingly get into a car with an intoxicated driver.

There are exceptions, however.?A South Carolina court has said a passenger could be judged a "proximate cause" of an injury if the driver and passenger were in some kind of "joint enterprise," such as the passenger steering the car while the driver presses the gas pedal.

Passengers who have directly encouraged drivers to break the law -- by urging them to speed excessively or to drive in the oncoming lane as part of a game, for example -- have also been found liable, Weinstein says.

But to find a passenger liable, the South Carolina court said, "The passenger must have an equal right to control the direction and management of the vehicle." It seems hard to argue that a text message sender has equal ability to control the vehicle as the driver does.

But there are plenty of other situations where someone other than the driver has to pay after an injury accident, an extension of liability called ?imputed negligence.? The most common is when the driver is "an agent" of someone else -- when a pizza delivery man driving for work causes an accident, his employer is liable.? Parents are often liable for accidents their children cause if they kids are directly under their care.?

There's also concept called "negligent entrustment": if you knowingly let an unlicensed driver take your auto out for a spin, you will probably be liable for an accident he or she causes.?

Neither of those cases fit this situation well, however. So Weinstein has settled on a?simpler analogy.

"If she was in the vehicle and put her hands over his eyes so he couldn't see, she would be liable," he said. "(Texting with him) is as if she put her hands over his eyes."

Is texting the digital equivalent of willfully rendering someone blind? To even make that argument, and to press on with the aiding and abetting claim, Weinstein has to persuade the judge that Colonna knew that Best was texting while driving. Colonna's lawyers are contesting that point, but Weinstein says the pattern of texts between boyfriend and girlfriend make clear that she must have known he was on his way home from work.

But even if he fails on that argument, it's easy to imagine other lawsuits where evidence of knowledge by the sender could be hard to deny. A driver might directly text, "Hey, I'm driving home," for example.

That would make a big difference in a case like this, said Robert Mitchell, a Utah-based lawyer and author of a recent article on aiding and abetting claims.

"If there is conclusive evidence that the person sending the text messages to the driver knew the driver was texting while driving, we see no reason why a claim for aiding and abetting the driver?s negligent or reckless conduct could not be made. The case is probably weaker if there is no evidence of actual knowledge, but only evidence of ?constructive knowledge,?" said Mitchell, referring to a concept that the sender "should have known" the recipient was driving. "Courts disagree over whether constructive knowledge is sufficient to give rise to aiding and abetting liability."

Courts have found that the contribution by this third party in aiding and abetting cases can't be slight ? it must be ?significant.? For example, giving directions to the bank robber probably wouldn?t be substantial enough to get you prosecuted, but telling him what time security guard shifts change could be. And, as with most civil liability cases, the harm caused by the action doesn't have to be intentional.

Mitchell said this is the critical phrase in the American Law Institute's guidelines.

"If the encouragement or assistance is a substantial factor in causing the resulting tort, the one giving it is himself a tortfeasor and is responsible for the consequences of the other?s act. This is true both when the act done is (intentional) and when it is merely (negligent)," Mitchell wrote in his review, quoting the guidelines with added parenthesis. In fact, liability exists even if the third-party has no idea he or she is doing something illegal or negligent.

So in Mitchell?s view, it's a relatively easy to argue?that the texter "substantially assisted" the driver in causing the accident.?

"The third prong, substantial assistance, would be an easier hurdle to clear (than knowledge) since sending somebody a text message while driving distracts the driver and that distraction may ultimately cause the accident," he said.? "Of course defenses may include superseding or intervening causes to the underlying tort (the first prong), like bad weather, poor road conditions or visibility, avoiding someone or something on the road."

Not all experts agree, however. Maryland-based lawyer Bradley Shear, an expert in digital law, openly fretted about how far liability might extend if Weinstein is successful in his novel legal argument.

"What if someone is hopping on a boat, and they look down at a text, slip and drown? What if a doctor gets a text before a surgery that upsets him and he makes a mistake? Is the sender responsible?" he said. "If you start going down that route where are you going to draw the line?"

Mark Rasch, for head of the Justice Department?s Computer Crimes Unit, said he thinks the case will boil down simply into this question: Can anyone really prove that the sender of the text, Colonna, knew that Best would read it while driving? Absent such proof, there is no case, he says.

But he was concerned with the larger issue of extending liability through digital means.

?The real question here is, do we as a society want to impose a duty on the non-driving texter for accidents that happen when a recipient is driving?? he said. ?For now, it seems a reasonable place to draw the line at this: The person driving has a duty not to text. And the person on other end of line has no duty unless there are special circumstances.?

One special circumstance he envisioned: A boss or other person in a position of power who received a message from an employee saying, ?I can?t text, I?m driving,? but continued to send demanding texts with an implied threat if they weren?t answered quickly.

?The person in the position of authority might have liability then,? said Rasch, now a cybersecurity consultant with Virginia-based CSC Inc.

Complicating matters, juries can apportion liability, and theoretically could find a driver 90 percent responsible and the sender of a text 10 percent responsible. Damages can be similarly apportioned, although the realities of collections means the party with the deepest pockets usually pays the most in damages.

It?s also possible that Congress or state legislatures might?create a chain of liability, as states have done with dram shop laws, which make bars liable for injuries and damages caused by patron who are served after they?re drunk.

For his part, Weinstein demurs when asked if he's trying to set an important legal precedent or make law. He's just trying to win a case for his client, he said.

"The defense ... wants to make this into a cause celebre, but this is not complicated," he said. "A jury may find I'm wrong and thrown me out on my duff. ... All I'm saying is don't (text) while driving, and don't assist someone else in texting while driving."

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Odds Are 6 in 10 You're Consuming This Poison Ingredient Daily ...

By Dr. Mercola

It?s no secret that cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death worldwide. But how many people realize that fluoride?which is still added to many municipal water supplies in the U.S.?is linked to heart disease?

In a new study published in the journal Nuclear Medicine Communicationsⁱ, researchers found that fluoride may be associated with an increased cardiovascular risk as it causes hardening of your arteries.

Reviewing the imaging data and cardiovascular history of patients who received whole-body sodium fluoride PET scans, the researchers found a significant correlation between a history of cardiovascular events and presence of fluoride uptake in coronary arteries.

While there are certainly many factors contributing to the rise in heart disease?poor diet likely being the most important?it certainly doesn?t help to add a chemical to water supplies that will be consumed by everyone in the area regardless of health status, from toddlers to seniors, that might contribute to the problem.

The primary issue here is that there?s a lack of evidence supporting the use of fluoride, and an awful lot of evidence stacked against the indiscriminate use of it, including these latest findings.

The practice of adding fluoride to tap water began in 1945. With more than 70 percent of U.S. public water supplies currently fluoridated, chances are you?re one of the 170 million Americans who drink and bathe in fluoride on a daily basis.ⁱⁱ

Most likely, your dentist?along with countless government and public health officials?has praised and promoted the use of fluoride, both in toothpaste and drinking water, as one of your must-do regimens to promote strong and healthy teeth.

But let?s make this point clear right from the start: fluoride is not an essential nutrient needed for your health?dental or otherwise. There is not one single process in your body that requires fluoride.

Fluoride is a Cumulative Poison

It?s important to realize that fluoride is a cumulative poison. Approximately 98 percent of the fluoride you ingest in water is absorbed into your blood through your gastrointestinal tract. From there, it enters your body?s cellular tissues. On average, about 50 percent of the fluoride you ingest each day gets excreted through your kidneys.

Whether this happens or not is highly dependent on the presence of calcium, magnesium, Vitamin C, and selenium in your bloodstream, to which the fluoride will bind so that it no longer is seeking calcium-rich tissues that make up so much of your body. The remainder accumulates in your teeth and bones,ⁱⁱⁱ pineal gland,^iv and other tissues, including your blood vessels.

According to the featured study:

?Fluoride uptake in vascular walls was demonstrated in 361 sites of 54 (96%) patients, whereas calcification was observed in 317 sites of 49 (88%) patients. Significant correlation between fluoride uptake and calcification was observed in most of the arterial walls, except in those of the abdominal aorta. Fluoride uptake in coronary arteries was demonstrated in 28 (46%) patients and coronary calcifications were observed in 34 (56%) patients.?

The amount deposited into your bones and teeth varies depending on your age. In children, more than 50 percent of an ingested dose of fluoride is deposited in bone, but in adults only about 10 percent is stored there. As the number of research studies into the toxic effects of fluoride has increased, there is now support for a rather long list of potential health problems related to fluoride accumulation in your body.

Here?s a list of 20 of the most commonly mentioned health hazards and diseases associated with fluoride exposure:^v,^vi

Lowers IQ	Hyperactivity and/or lethargyviii	Increases lead absorptionix	Disrupts synthesis of collagen
Brain damage	Dementia	Muscle disorders	Arthritis
Bone fracturesvii	Bone cancer (osteosarcoma)	Dental fluorosis (staining and pitting of teeth)	Lowers thyroid function
Disrupts immune system	Inhibits formation of antibodies	Genetic damage and cell deathx	Inactivates 62 enzymesxii
Increases tumor and cancer rate	Increases aging process	Reduces melatonin production and leads to earlier onset of pubertyxi	Damages sperm, increases infertility

Fluoride?the Toxic Drug in Your Water Supply

Prior to 1945 when communal water fluoridation took effect, fluoride was a known toxin. For example, a 1936 issue of the Journal of the American Dental Association stated that fluoride at the 1 ppm (part per million) concentration is as toxic as arsenic and lead. The Journal of the American Medical Association stated in their September 18, 1943 issue, that fluorides are general protoplasmic poisons that change the permeability of the cell membrane by certain enzymes.^xiii And, an editorial published in the Journal of the American Dental Association, October 1, 1944, stated:

?Drinking water containing as little as 1.2 ppm fluoride will cause developmental disturbances. We cannot run the risk of producing such serious systemic disturbances. The potentialities for harm outweigh those for good.?

How community water fluoridation ended up being so widely implemented, and eventually even became heralded as one of the 10 great public health achievements of the 20th century, is explained in-depth in Christopher Bryson?s book The Fluoride Deception.^xiv In it, he describes the intertwined interests that existed in the 1940?s and 50?s between the aluminum industry, the U.S. nuclear weapons program, and the dental industry, which resulted in fluoride being declared not only safe, but beneficial to human health. Once you understand the historical context, it becomes easier to grasp why anyone would ever promote water fluoridation as ?a good idea.?

Due to the massive amounts of fluoride required to produce bomb-grade uranium and plutonium for nuclear weapons, the Manhattan Project conducted various experiments to determine its toxic effects in 1946.

There were already several instances on record of fluoride being toxic to crops, livestock and people living downwind from the polluters, so the public concern over fluoride emissions needed to be quelled in order to avoid potentially crippling lawsuits.

Within the now declassified files of the Manhattan Project and the Atomic Energy Commission, Christopher Bryson found that the toxicology department at the University of Rochester, under the direction of Harold Hodge, was asked to produce medical information about fluoride that could help defend the government against lawsuits where they were charged with fluoride pollution. Back in 1957, Harold Hodge was the nation?s leading, most trusted scientist, and when he declared that fluoride was ?absolutely safe? at 1 ppm, everyone believed him.

So, the endorsement of fluoride as a nutrient that will grace you with brilliant pearly whites, rather than the poison it really is, was born from the need to address increasingly debilitating political and industrial problems relating to fluoride pollution. The rest, as they say, is history.

What?s Really Added to Your Water Supply?

It?s important to understand that the ?fluoride? added to your drinking water is NOT the natural mineral, nor a pharmaceutical grade fluoride. Instead, the product most commonly used is another chemical fluoride compound?a toxic waste product from phosphate fertilizer plants.

There are three basic compounds that can be used for fluoridating water supplies:^xv

1. Sodium fluoride (NaF)
2. Sodium silicofluoride
3. Hydrofluorosilicic acid

The first one of these, sodium fluoride, was the first of the fluoride waste materials to be used for fluoridation, but now is rarely used. It?s the most well known, as this is the compound used as pharmaceutical grade in toxicology studies and other research into the potential health dangers of fluoride. The other two, sodium silicofluoride and hydrofluorosilicic acid, are the compounds actually used for water fluoridation, with hydrofluorosilicic acid being the most commonly used additive, according to the CDC.^xvi Sodium silicofluoride and hydrofluorosilicic acid are the waste products from the wet scrubbering systems of the fertilizer industry, and are classified as hazardous wastes. Contamination with various impurities such as arsenic is also common in these products.

Hydrofluorosilicic acid is one of the most reactive chemicals known to man. Its toxicity is well known in chemical circles. It will eat through metal and plastic pipes, and corrode stainless steel and other materials. It will dissolve rubber tires and melt concrete^xvii. This is what is added to your water?all in the name of saving children from cavities! But even the less reactive sodium fluoride is a deadly poison, even in small quantities, and in the form used for fluoridation also contains additional impurities. Other common uses for sodium fluoride include:

• Rat and cockroach poisons
• Anesthetics
• Hypnotics and psychiatric drugs

The Way Forward: Shifting the Burden of Proof

Still despite all the evidence, getting fluoride out of American water supplies has been exceedingly difficult. And it?s no wonder, really, when you factor in the considerable liability the U.S. government could face were they to suddenly admit that water fluoridation was a way to hide toxic pollution, and there are detrimental health effects associated with drinking these pollutants?

Fortunately, there is a way forward.

According to Jeff Green, National Director of Citizens for Safe Drinking Water, a repeated theme in some of the recent cases where communities successfully removed fluoride from their water supply is the shifting of the burden of proof. Rather than citizens taking on the burden of proving that fluoride is harmful and shouldn?t be added, a more successful strategy has been to hold those making claims and the elected officials who rely on them, accountable for delivering proof that the specific fluoridation chemical being used fulfills their health and safety claims, and is in compliance with all regulations, laws, and risk assessments already required for safe drinking water.

For example, a couple of years ago, a Tennessee town stopped adding the hydrofluosilicic acid fluoride product they had been using, while still keeping its resolution to fluoridate its water supplies intact (meaning they didn?t make a decision on whether it might be harmful). They just haven?t been able to find a replacement product that is compliant with existing laws, regulations and safe-water requirements, and they will not add any fluoride product that is not in compliance. To learn more, please see this previous article, which discusses these strategies more in-depth.

Join the Fight to Get Fluoride Out of Drinking Water

In summary it would seem like most rational people would conclude you should avoid using fluoride for its ?preventive? benefits. You can easily choose not to take fluoride supplements or buy fluoride-free toothpaste and mouthwash. You can also dramatically reduce your fluoride exposure by opting for organic foods, on which fluoride-based pesticides are not permitted to be used. However, you?re still going to be stuck with whatever your community puts in the water, and as discussed, it?s very difficult to filter out of your water once it?s added. Many do not have the resources or the knowledge to do so.

It?s really time to stop the archaic practice of water fluoridation.

Earlier this year I joined forces with Dr. Paul Connett to help put an END to water fluoridation in the U.S and Canada. The Fluoride Action Network has a game plan to do just that. Our fluoride initiative will primarily focus on Canada since 60 percent of Canada is already non-fluoridated. If we can get Calgary and the rest of Canada to stop fluoridating their water, we believe the U.S. will be forced to follow. I urge you to join the anti-fluoride movement in Canada and the United States by contacting the representative for your area below.

Contact Information for Canadian Communities:

• If you live in Ontario, Canada, please join the ongoing effort by contacting Diane Sprules at diane.sprules@cogeco.ca.
• The point-of-contact for Toronto, Canada is Aliss Terpstra. You may email her at aliss@nutrimom.ca.
• The point-of-contact for the Peel region in Ontario, Canada is Rob Brewer. You may email him at FluorideFreePeel@ymail.com. Also see Fluoride Free Peel?s Facebook pagei.

Contact Information for American Communities:

We?re also going to address three US communities: New York City, Austin, and San Diego:

• New York City, NY:The anti-fluoridation movement has a great champion in New York City councilor Peter Vallone, Jr. who introduced legislation on January 18 ?prohibiting the addition of fluoride to the water supply.?A victory there could signal the beginning of the end of fluoridation in the U.S. If you live in the New York area I beg you to participate in this effort as your contribution could have a MAJOR difference. Remember that one person can make a difference.The point person for this area is Carol Kopf, at the New York Coalition Opposed to Fluoridation (NYSCOF). Email her at NYSCOF@aol.com. Please contact her if you?re interested in helping with this effort.
• Austin, Texas: Join the effort by contacting Rae Nadler-Olenick at either: info@fluoridefreeaustin.com or fluoride.info@yahoo.com, or by regular mail or telephone:POB 7486 ??? Austin, Texas 78713 ??? Phone: (512) 371-3786
• San Diego, California: Contact Patty Ducey-Brooks, publisher of the Presidio Sentinel at pbrooks936@aol.com.

References:

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